Reviews

The Venus Throw: A Mystery of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor

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desert_side_notched's review

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mysterious

4.0

escan's review against another edition

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5.0

There’s a lot to love about this, but it’s late on a (virtual) school night, so I’ll just comment that I very much appreciated the way the novel handled the themes of violence, particularly sexual violence, against women. It’s something that connects both Clodia, a wealthy Roman patrician woman, and Bethesda, an Egyptian former slave, as well as the young slave girl Zotica

Spoiler

for whom the abuse is too much, causing her severe mental distress.

I’ll spoiler mark this just to be safe, but

Spoiler

the idea of Bethesda never in 30 years disclosing what happened to her to Gordianus, but explaining to her daughter as soon as she was old enough to understand (and Clodia’s mirroring story of confiding in no one but an old slave woman)

felt as relevant to our society today as to that of Gordianus and his family. Also, very very major spoiler but

Spoiler

I just really love and respect 13-year-old Diana for almost instantly taking the decision to kill the man who abused her mother, that was an extremely badass thing to do.

raptorimperator's review against another edition

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5.0

This was my first introduction to the Roma Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor. From the first pages I was hooked. Now I've read all the books in the series.

eososray's review against another edition

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3.0

While I'm happy to see Gordianus back in Rome and I love how the whole family is in this book, it is not quite up to par with the first couple in my opinion.
I was not that partial to the brother and sister characters (I cannot remember their names and I don't have the book) that are such a big part of the story. Neither was I partial to the back history of Gordianus and his family.
It was still a good book but not the best.